Vero Beach Magazine

5 days ago | verobeachmagazine.com | Abigail Duffy

June is the beginning of our rainy season. This is the time of year when I am always focused on ways to harvest the abundance of rain that we will be receiving for the next few months. Whether it is collecting it in a rain barrel, installing a rain garden, or even just making sure it seeps down into the soil to recharge the aquifer, I want less of it to run off. Stormwater runoff compounds our water issues here in Florida, including the imbalance created in the lagoon by the influx of fresh water.

5 days ago | verobeachmagazine.com | Abigail Duffy

In 1923, Waldo Sexton, Walter Buckingham, F.L. Hemmings, and Arthur McKee organized the Royal Park Development Company to build a large subdivision. The plans included 1,000 lots on about 400 acres of land north of today’s 21st Street. The main thoroughfare, Royal Palm Boulevard, was lined with royal palm trees, and street names such as “Coronado” and “Catalina” paid homage to Florida’s Spanish heritage.

1 week ago | verobeachmagazine.com | Abigail Duffy

Sea turtle nesting season is well underway, so it’s time for turtle walks to begin! Both the Friends of Sebastian Inlet State Park and Coastal Connections have the necessary state permits to conduct them, and they do it June 1–July 31. The walks offer guided groups the opportunity to unobtrusively observe a loggerhead as she digs a nest, deposits her eggs, covers the nest, and returns to the ocean.

2 weeks ago | verobeachmagazine.com | Abigail Duffy

It’s well before sunrise and Sexton Plaza’s oceanfront parking lot is already abuzz with swimmers, snorkelers, kayakers, and paddleboarders preparing for the quarter-mile sprint to the 300-foot-long British cargo ship that ran aground in 1894 while en route from New York to Tampa. From its bow an American flag flutters triumphantly in the warm, salty air. To the uninitiated, it looks like an aquatic fire drill.

1 month ago | verobeachmagazine.com | Abigail Duffy

In May, we are caught in that in-between time that offers us just enough hours of residual coolness to put the finishing touches on summer gardens while feeling the first tinges of summer’s heat. Then, there is also the hope and despair of the coming rainy season. This is a critical time for turfgrass, as lawns may begin showing drought stress due to increased evaporation before consistent rains return. Finally, Florida natives and other plants keep May true to her promise of flower power.